Types of bullying

Physical Bullying

Physical bullying can be one of the most obvious forms of bullying as it occurs when one person tries to gain power and control physically over their targets, making it slightly easier to monitor or observe. Examples of this kind of bullying are hitting, kicking, slapping, and shoving as well as other physical attacks.

Verbal Bullying

Verbal bullying uses words, hurtful statements and name calling to gain power and control over their target. This type of bullying normally uses insults to emotionally hurt, embarrass and belittle another person. Their targets are normally picked because of the way they look, act or behave. Verbal bullying can be hard to identify, as it is not as visible as physical bullying, and would normally happen when other people are not around to hear what has been said. It is important to address this type of bullying, rather than telling the victim to “ignore what was said” as verbal bullying can leave someone with deep emotional wounds.

Relational Aggression

Relational aggression is a type of bullying that is also known as emotional bullying. It can often be unnoticeable, which can become very dangerous as it is a type of social manipulation, in which the bully tries to ruin the social standing of the target. They could try to ostracise others from a group, spread rumours, break confidences and be highly manipulative towards their target.

Cyber Bullying

Cyber bullying happens through technology and can take many forms, such as; sending threats to another person’s phone, spreading rumours online, posting hurtful and threatening messages on social networking sites, stealing a person’s account information to break into their account and change details as well as sending damaging messages, pretending to be someone else online to hurt someone, abusing confidentiality of another’s personal pictures and spreading them online, “sexting” and circulating sexually suggestive pictures or messages about a person. This is becoming a growing issue as the use of social networking and mobiles has increased vastly. To the targets of cyber bullying it could feel never ending as there is no reasonable way to get away from the hurt, as bullies can get to them anywhere and anytime.

Childline write: “There are particular aspects of cyber-bullying that can make the experience more upsetting and distressing for children and young people than other kinds of bullying. These include the fact that, through mobile phones, such bullying can be constant and children can be victims even when they are at home and away from school or friends. Bullying incidents can be recorded and widely circulated via the internet and on mobile phones.”